Forza 2 demo

Cereb Daithi · Post by **Cereb Daithi** » Thu May 10, 2007 5:43 am

IS HERE! I think it just came out a few minutes ago.. (i've been checking quite often as of late hoping to see catch it when it comes out and it looks like it paid off. sad i know)

I'll give you a review in a few. downloading now!

Cereb Daithi · Post by **Cereb Daithi** » Thu May 10, 2007 6:02 am

First impressions: hell yes. you get to drive a legacy B4

ok too busy to write any more. i'll post later

Cereb Daithi · Post by **Cereb Daithi** » Thu May 10, 2007 6:46 am

Alright. Sadly the demo only has one track it seems so I'll post what I think.

The game is pretty damn good. For starters i have only one complaint so far. NO INTERIOR VIEW. There are the usual 3rd person cams, the hood cam, and the nose cam.... but there is no view from inside the car. This might be a non-issue for some people but for me this is huge. I play all my racing games from inside the car whenever possible. Helps me with the simulation feel and also gives me an idea of where the car is and such. That is a major letdown. I figured since PGR3 had interior shots, Forza 2 would at least attempt it.

Ignoring that however this game is great. The sound is excellent. I started out driving the 2005 Legacy B4 2.0L and the second I hit the throttle I knew this game had sound nailed. If someone else had been playing and I heard from the other room I'd probably be able to say "that's a legacy" Or I'd at least recgonize the boxer engine. The Mercedes SLR was also a spot on sound match. So definetly kudos to them on that front.

The AI. It certainly seems good. It kept right up with me and drove safely but agressively. It hung back in the bends and moved to pass in the straights. If I got too close for comfort it would make every attempt to reposition itself.

The physics.... hmmmm. They seem to be working good. I played one race with traction control, ABS, and stability management on. It wasn't so challenging. Then I jumped in the merc and turned everything off but the ABS and put it in manual transmission mode. Very challenging but also very satisfying. I like a racing game that forces you to drive intelligently and this certainly delivers.

The damage certainly looks good in the game. On the final lap of the merc I decided to see what happens. However it looks like they haven't enabled the realistic damage for the demo. It's only cosmetic for this release so it looks like I'll have to wait til the 29th to find out just how bad I can beat these cars.

I'd give it a rating on a scale of 1-10 but since this demo doesnt include any sort of career mode, car customization, online play, other tracks, or realistic damage I can't do that yet. However I will say it has already passed in my book and I look forward to it's release later this month. If it's anything like the first game then I have a lot to look forward to!

EDIT: All this could be subject to change as well. For all I know the full game DOES have interior views and they just left it out of the demo to save space. *crosses fingers*.

Mr Kleen · Post by **Mr Kleen** » Thu May 10, 2007 8:26 am

damn, i knew i should have logged on to XBL this morning

thanks for the heads up!

spazegun2213 · Post by **spazegun2213** » Thu May 10, 2007 9:29 am

sounds great.. i wish i had a 360 to play it on.

Mr Kleen · Post by **Mr Kleen** » Thu May 10, 2007 10:13 am

spazegun2213 wrote:sounds great.. i wish i had a 360 to play it on.

you don't need a 360, you have a real race car.

Libra Monkee · Post by **Libra Monkee** » Thu May 10, 2007 11:11 am

Mr Kleen wrote:
spazegun2213 wrote:sounds great.. i wish i had a 360 to play it on.
you don't need a 360, you have a real race car.

Two even!

Post by **complacent** » Thu May 10, 2007 11:45 am

Mr Kleen wrote:
spazegun2213 wrote:sounds great.. i wish i had a 360 to play it on.
you don't need a 360, you have a real race car.

He's got a point Ross...

Cereb Daithi · Post by **Cereb Daithi** » Fri May 11, 2007 3:48 am

It seems to be very detailed indeed. Telemetry includes rpm, boost, current horsepower being delivered to the wheels, current torque being delivered to the wheels,clutch position, tire heat on several parts of the tire, suspension travel, braking, acceleration, g forces, tire friction, tire camber, tire pressure, tire temperature... it's all there. Very cool. I really can't wait to play the full version where tuning will come into play.

Not very knowledgable on legacy models but if any of you are perhaps you could verify the accuracy of this game. It's showing the 2004 B4 2.0GT at 276hp at 253lb-ft running 14.2psi. I can't wait to get my hands on an Impreza. (apparently if you get your hands on the collector's edition, you get a s204 as a bonus car)

Mr Kleen · Post by **Mr Kleen** » Fri May 11, 2007 8:32 am

I played aroud with it a bit last night after the Vinny's meet. I'm going to need a steering wheel...

nice looking game but the "AI" is a real bastard. they only follow the racing line and they'll bump you (usually resulting in a nasty spin) every chance they get, yet it seems almost impossible to return the favor?!?

I can't wait to see the skin editor. we'll need somebody to design a good DCAWD paint scheme...

Cereb Daithi · Post by **Cereb Daithi** » Fri May 11, 2007 8:43 am

i'll see what i can do. I'm known for spending hours designing a single paint scheme for a car. I'll happily take on that burden.

That's strange about the AI. When I played it wasn't as exact as it seemed to be on your game. I will agree that the AI can be nasty here and there. I rarely got hit but when I did it seemed to be out of nowhere and usually resulted in me going suddenly finding myself in the WRC on an off-road excursion. I have a feeling the final version of the game will be a bit nicer.

+1 on the steering wheel though. I think its time to invest in that xbox 360 wheel. Can you believe that I had toyed with tracking down a single STi seat to build a rig out of to play this game?